About

You know we do graphic design, illustration and marketing. But why?

Our Why:

People crave authentic stories, which reveal our interconnection and inspire a purposeful life.

Our Mission:

We craft authentic graphic design, to tell the stories that improve our world.

We are an accessible and professional creative services & marketing company that lead the discovery and delivery of compelling graphic stories, contributing to the success of our clients, whose mission and core values align with ours.

Vision Statement:

By design we will collectively overcome current environmental and societal challenges, to shape our world into a thriving and equitable home for future generations, while creating a flexible and profitable lifestyle for our clients, our partners and ourselves.

Core Values:

The core values will that drive our daily L.I.F.E.decisions are:

Loving Curiosity over fear:

We consciously choose to make decisions from a mindset of loving curiosity and abundance over fear and scarcity. We show Compassion byalways considering the others point of view to be as valid as our own. We Inspirebycheering on each other, our clients and colleagues and spread a positive “can do” vibe of support. We have Fun: Remember our work is important, but work is not the most important thing. So we better have fun with this.

Integrity:

We should do the right thing every time and be true to our word, especially when it is the most inconvenient. We believe in people before profits: People and our environment are our most valuable resources and should be treated as such. We take Accountability for failure, with grace, rather than place blame, even if we feel it’s not our fault.

Flexibility:

We must be willing to adapt and be open to other points of view and believe that good ideas can come from anywhere. We understand truth can be evidence based or may be intuitive. We practice Honest Self Assessment. We must be curious and honest about our own shortcomings and failures. We are committed to continuously improve ourselves and each other.

Excellence:

We must deliver a high level of value driven sales, a superior customer experience and an enriching aesthetic. We must cultivate a culture of Candor by accepting and delivering constructive criticism. We encourage the respectful challenging of ideas and authority with the common goal of developing our personal and collective excellence. We show up as Professionals: Look the part, be the part, show respect, be informed, be on time.

Who he is:

“I love working with purposeful people to build teams who craft creative solutions to make the world a better place. I am a proven reliable partner for working on unique and engaging creative projects.”

John is not only a creative graphic artist but also an organizer of information, a strategic thinker, and an experienced achiever.

How he is:

Driven by his core strength of connectedness, he believes that there is a graphic design can support a strong emerging synergy between improving the lives of all of our fellow humans, being responsible stewards of our environment and maximizing the bottom line in an ethical and sustainable way. He is particularly interested in how art, design and communication intersect into and support those systems, transcend boundaries and build social bridges. He’s passionate about the power of our stories to connect us through our common hopes, dreams and struggles.

John believes that form should follow function. That this is the key to creating effective graphic design both in art and in business. The modern myriad of messaging outlets requires that both art and branding must adapt to be more flexible than has historically been promoted.

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

What he is all about:

An artist first with a background in old school hand drawn techniques, prop and set design and a strong practical knowledge of sign craft, he is also fluent in computer aided graphic design. His formative years were before the internet existed and he is equally comfortable with pen and brush in hand or with a stylus and mouse. Having worked extensively in a variety of styles and mediums he is able to call upon many traditional styles and themes as well as deliver original modern concepts. He takes his work seriously but is seriously fun to work with.

John embraces the warmth that hand illustrated graphic design and crafted dimensional elements can bring while still dovetailing that into the benefits of modern technology assisted design.

What he does:

John brings to the table a strong background in environmental graphic design specializing in signs and special events marketing, as well as extensive hands on experience in sales, management, business development and workflow solutions.

He delivers the rare balance of graphic artistry and business acumen.

He spent most of his life in the arts and music scene in Baltimore, Maryland and relocated with his family to beautiful Asheville, NC in 2012.

Most recently prior to launching John Hornsby Creative, he enjoyed serving as Senior Creative Consultant with FASTSIGNS of Asheville.

More about Wayfinding & Environmental Graphic Design (EGD):

To be clear, he is not an architect or an interior designer. But the work he does often dovetails with their scope of work or fills in the gaps where a project or budget does not warrant the full scope of services those professionals offer. He frequently consults with these and other creative professionals to help sort through and manage finer details of how to execute their vision. Our work often overlays onto existing architectural drawings.

He brings to the table integrity, patience and a solid understanding of signs and graphics, dimensional fabrication, structural design, art and illustration.

What he’s done:

John has had the good fortune of enjoying a truly unique life and career path on his journey to becoming an experienced graphic art & design professional. Previously he served as Director of the Art Department for a large special events company, leading a team of production artists to design and build all manner of dimensional props and sets, murals and environments at high volumes under extremely tight deadlines. He went on to lead the graphic design department. His work included providing 3D environmental design of props and sets for events ranging from bat mitzvahs to fortune 500 company galas.

During this time he also co-operated an “underground” DIY warehouse performance venue known as The Penthouse on the top floor of the H&H Building, well known for it’s collective of live in resident artists, galleries, performers and scene makers. His roles there ranged from stage management to slinging beer. After 5 years of steady attention, the baton was handed off to new blood and the name was changed to Floristree. Shortly after it was name checked by Rolling Stone magazine and cited as one of many reasons they were calling out Baltimore as best music scene in 2008.

For a few seasons he switched gears and, with his wife, drove an RV around the country as part of a mobile marketing initiative for health insurance clients.

A lover of music, he spent many years writing and performing in various musical groups. His work also included producing and mixing some of the albums, designing the artwork and posters as well as organizing many events and promoting them.

If you care to listen to some musical creations from his past you can do so on the portfolio page.